Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the artistic perception on the indigenous world in Venezuela since the mid-20th century. While Pre-Hispanic Art has been traditionally valued as art, the living indigenous world has been seen either from an exoticized perspective, or it has been judged as an acculturated world.

Paper long abstract:

In light of the growing importance that the indigenous presence has acquired within the artistic field, debates have opened on the role of the art world as a possible meeting point between indigenous cultures and “western” society. Indigenous artistic practices offer in this sense, new forms of transmission of knowledge and of world perceptions that dwell between the traditional and the “westernized” world. In this paper we will discuss the case of Venezuela, and how indigeneity has been seen from the artistic perspective since the mid-20th century. During the 60’s, Napoleon Chagnon’s work on the Yanomami Society, which was described by him as the last vestige of the “savage” man, was most influential not only in the anthropological field, but in the cultural spheres in general. Between the 70’s and the 90’s the Venezuelan Amazon became a popular destination for artists who wanted to explore and exchange experiences with indigenous communities such as the Yanomami. Most of these encounters were part of the artist’s need to step out from a hyper-technologized world and live the “ultimate” experience of otherness by facing completely “opposed” cultures. However, very few approaches have actually taken into consideration the voices of those indigenous communities and their culture as valid forms of transmitting knowledge and aesthetic experiences. We will delve into the different valorizations indigenous art forms have had among artists and artistic institutions. Also, we will take a closer look into some instances in which indigenous knowledge has been transmitted through contemporary artistic language.